Apologia pro Vita Sua - Or - "Not So, Ottenites! Keep Your UOJ, Your Ever-Changing Paraphrases of the BibleAnd Your Adulterous Pals

Shaping the facts is the Christian News
answer to sound doctrine.

Pastor Otten likes to shape the facts so I seem to be some evil creature in cahoots with the apostates in his own synod - which excommunicated him.

Otten claims Beck's Bible does not drop the ending of Mark's Gospel, but that translation has gone through more revisions than Hillary Clinton's face.

I was around when God's Word to the Nations Bible Society was being run by an adulterous friend of Otten's, spending gushers of money on himself - all grants from the adulterous St. Marvin Schwan. When the Schwan money ran out, the mistress left  Phillip B. Giessler. Well, they were married, because Mrs. Giessler made Phil choose between her and the mistress. He chose the mistress and thought the boy was his. When one of my members saw Phil in a park with the boy, she said, "Is that your son?" in a friendly way. Pastor Phil said, "No, no!" in a way that really made her wonder.

Although Phil was lying, he was right after all. The former mistress said that was not his son, as he was told. So wife #2 was gone, and he he married a third time.

And yet good old Phil is still a pastor and has been featured in Christian News like a regular good guy.

Dr. Phil now - he calls himself Dr. Phillip B. Giessler.

DR. PHILLIP B. GIESSLER 
Missionary to Africa Dr. Phillip B. Giessler has been a Lutheran day-school & high school teacher; a parish pastor & Bible teacher in excess of 40 years; Christian author; an Instructor of students at Concordia Theological Seminary—Ft. Wayne, IN; CEO of God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society; and Editor of the New Evangelical Translation (NET) of the NT. Currently, he is a commissioned missionary professor to seminary and evangelistic students in Kampala, Uganda; Yambio, Sudan; Nairobi, Kenya, Africa. Dr. Giessler is on his fourth missionary journey to Africa. This journey brings him to: Pretoria, South Africa; Mwika, Tanzania; Meru, Tanzania; Nairobi, Kenya; Kisii, Kenya; Entebbe/Kampala, Uganda; Gulu, Uganda; Arua, Uganda; Lira, Uganda; Mbale, Uganda. Pr. Giessler’s ministry primarily involves teaching seminary students, local pastors and missionaries wherever they can be gathered. Pr. Giessler often has to cover the traveling expenses of those who come to be equipped for outreach in their local areas. Dr. Giessler has visited Peace the last several years and receives financial and prayer support from our members.

Wikipedia:
In 1978, it was decided that Beck's translation would be revised. Phillip B. Giessler, a pastor from Cleveland, Ohio, then formed a committee and revision work began in 1982. The work of Giessler's committee (although it was—much like Dr. Beck's earlier work—essentially a "one-man" translation team with a single English reviewer) yielded another translation of the New Testament that was released in 1988 titled New Testament: God's Word to the Nations (GWN) This work was later renamed the New Evangelical Translation (NET) in 1990. (Important note: Beck's AAT, according to Rev. Hackbardt, only served as a basis for "English style.") In early 1992, according to Hackbardt, all the earlier New Testament work was abandoned by the Society and an entirely new Bible translation based on the best Hebrew, Aramaic, and Koine Greek texts and using the translation principle "closest natural equivalence"—beginning with the Old Testament—was completely re-translated by the Society's five scholars, 17 technical reviewers, and four English reviewers. In early 1994 the translation was renamed GOD'S WORD prior to being turned over to World Bible Publishers in October 1994 for publication in March 1995.

Back to the Giessler issue. Nobody knew? He was cheerfully running a Bible society as a pastor and spending money on his mistress? How many times will Missouri repeat the Bishop Stephan example? Nobody knew! And yet when finally everyone knew, he was still a pastor albeit in a more Pietistic sect that does not - officially - accept divorced and remarried pastors. He sold the dishonest Rich Food Plan, too.

Exactly what did this Beck translation accomplish? As far as I can see, it ended up in the hands of a lying adulterous spendthrift, then morphed into one more liberal translation. The final results? Nobody cares. 

Did the original Beck drop the ending of Mark? Part of the booklet was written 16 years ago when I owned a Beck. Since I check my sources, the ending was probably dropped into a footnote. Likewise, the original RSV changed the Virgin Birth of Isaiah 7 and then reversed itself when a cry went up from mainline denominations about denying the Virgin Birth - as the RSV clearly did. But they could then say, "No we don't." But look at the passage in a traditional RSV. The footnote says, "Or a young woman." 

The results are the same. Footnotes can be so useful.

David Beck's Reading Comprehension Is Zero - And He Substitutes Ad Hominem for Wit.

I am used to being called a liar when I am telling the truth. Pastor Otten is a proven liar, as all UOJists are. He gloated to me about working with Paul McCain to get Al Barry elected. McCain sent early copies of Barry material so they all came out early in Christian News. McCain also bragged to me about doing this with Otten. Both of them heatedly denied working with each other, and Otten put his denial in Christian News. If the truth had been known, Barry would not have been elected, and McCain would have had to work for a living as a pastor. 

The LCMS Seminary tuition scandal - bonus link here. << This link works.

The Becker headline is Gregory L. Jackson Lies about Christian News.

It's a lie that Otten always praised Concordia St. Louis as the greatest seminary in America? I read that countless times, even when Johnson was seminary president and kissing up to Otten. I was there when a Johnson fax came through to Otten. Herman was delighted.

When I met Johnson it took about two minutes to identify him as a certified apostate. He saw how I trapped him and backed away from his gushing about Karl Barth (the Swiss Commie adulterer). Funny how often adultery comes up with false doctrine.

The next point is where I wrote about the Purpose-Driven Life being required reading at St. Louis - and that Luther's sermons were not even suggested reading.

Becker: "Jackson also complains that Rick Warren’s “The Purpose Driven Life” was required reading at CSL at one time. There is nothing wrong being at least aware of this book."

The seminary is excused. Rick Warren is excused. But I am a liar? Who omitted the crucial comparison of Warren required and Luther not even suggested? Becker did. He has no reading comprehension (the kindest possible explanation). This is not a matter of "being aware of this book" but saying it was so important to the LCMS that It. Must. Be. Read. By. All. Students.

Calling Becker a lightweight in theology would be an insult to all the lightweights, the DPs and seminary professors.

Lightweight - destined to be a DP or seminary professor.

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Norma Boeckler's Art Featured Twice - Ichabod Called a Liar - 4/18/2016 Christian News

Christian News featured this booklet cover by Norma Boeckler twice in the new issue.

David Becker called me a liar for identifying the radical nature of UOJ blowing the LCMS apart.

Someone concerned about bad translations asked me to write about "making disciples," so I wrote the booklet.

More later. Film at 10.

Turning Green into Gold in the Garden - With Little Work Involved

The new and older roses have enjoyed two sessions of rain in the front yard. Everything looks a bit jumbled right now. Each rose location has clay heaped around it or perhaps needs a little filler soil.

The new roses are planted in the midst of clover, dandelions, and grass - all doing very well from the rain and sunshine. Clover seems to have had a banner year. The remainder of the backyard grass is almost completely clover, an excellent crop for beneficial bugs. Beneficial insects like tiny flowers and often need pollen and nectar in their adult stage. Clover is also known for fixing nitrogen in the soil.

Rhizobia are bacteria that must have a plant host to let them fix nitrogen. Atmospheric nitrogen, an inert gas, is useless to plants in that form but becomes the foundation of life in compounds. This relationship was discovered in 1889, and now we understand in part how fungi also contribute to this vast exchange of nutrition through soil microbes - bacteria, protozoa, fungi, nematodes, and more.

Legumes like clover, beans, mesquite, and carob fix nitrogen in their root nodules, and many are turned under (plowed! rototilled!) to provide green manure for the soil. The Creation gardener avoids turning soil upside-down, but there is nothing wrong with turning the green into gold with mulching.

A sunny day today means we will place cardboard, newspaper, and shredded wood mulch over the green grass, clover, and dandelions in the front yard. The royal rose does not like competition. Some tiny plants--garlic chives, garlic, or low-growing beneficial hosts--are tolerable, but not a mass of plants greedy for sun, soil, and water. The green grass and clover will become compost.

When the blanket of cardboard, newspaper, and wooden mulch is applied, the sunlight is shut out from the low-level plants and they begin to die. Thus the grass, dandelions, and clover become green manure. The bacteria attack the soft material and turn it into compost. The roots are tougher, so the fungi can dissolve them with their tubular dissolving and transportation power. Each microbe has its own jurisdiction and carries out its duties according to conditions.

At first the grass and clover become a blackened mat of organic matter, the nitrogen in the green converted back into soil compounds. Once the decomposition is complete, the soil is soft, dark, and easily penetrated by rose roots.

The mighty earthworm mixes the combination at the end of the decomposition cycle. This is the ideal situation for plants grown in clay. The tiny size of clay particles allows more electrical charges and therefore more ion exchange of minerals. This is a version of the water softener process. The traditional water softener is loaded up with ordinary salt. Ion exchange takes the insoluble salts out and replaces them with soluble salt. Ion exchange in the soil means plants get the minerals they need.

Clay is also good for holding rainwater. Fill a partial hole in the clay soil with water - nothing happens in 30 minutes. That can be good but we also want soil that lets the rain in rather than just bouncing it away. Mulch itself soaks up an enormous amount of water and holds it in place for the soil creatures. When earthworms and their buddies work that damp mulch into the soil, they create thousands of tunnels for the rain and soften the soil for plant roots.

My experiment in Midland with compost on top of clay showed that the clay was mixed with compost over time, making it easy to work. Soil moisture will also make a difference. Mixing compost into clay with a shovel is extremely heavy work - and why? The earthworms will do the job better in time and enjoy jolly meals while multiplying like crazy.

Plantain was called White Man's Footprints
by the Indians. Some people use it as an herb.
Those who use no weed killers will be happy to eat the
weeds they deem worthwhile.

Weeds? Make Them Compost
My first weed patch came from using wood mulch without a newspaper base. The crab grass, which was originally brought over as a grain crop, grew splendidly through the wood, basking in the sunniest part of the yard. We simply covered that with newspaper and mulch, after mowing it. Another layer of cardboard and mulch will make it the tomato garden this year.

I had another sunny areas filled with plantain. I simply mulched the area and  planted it with blackberry canes, which are growing well.

If weeds grow well, so will plants. Some of the weeds are valuable for birds and beneficial insects, so do not be too quick to get rid of them.

Pokeweed or Pokeberry -
hate it or love it for being prolific.
Birds love it the attractive, toxic berries.

Irony Alert
I was busy planting various berry plants last year and cut down pokeberry 8 feet tall. The pokeberry is loved by all birds and clearly planted by birds wherever they rest.

Beautyberry is planted for the birds to enjoy,
late in the season.

What Is Justifying Faith? 2012 - Augsburg Confession Apology versus WELS-ELS

Faith is that my whole heart takes to itself this treasure. It is not my doing, not my presenting or giving, not my work or preparation, but that a heart comforts itself, and is perfectly confident with respect to this, namely, that God makes a present and gift to us, and not we to Him, that He sheds upon us every treasure of grace in Christ.

Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Part 3. What is justifying faith?

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Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "What Is Justifying Faith?":

The Huberites have this to say about the Holy Spirit's faith - the righteousness of Christ.

WELS Siegbert W. Becker:
"Faith does nothing more than accept the forgiveness proclaimed in the Gospel. It is not a condition we must fulfill before we can be forgiven. It is not a cause of forgiveness on account of which God forgives us. The forgiveness comes first. Faith is merely the response to the message. God says to us, “Your sins are forgiven.” This is objective justification, and God’s message to us is true whether we believe it or not. Faith makes God’s message its own and says, “My sins are forgiven.” This is subjective justification. The whole doctrine is just as simple as that." Page 12, The Place of Faith
http://www.wlsessays.net/files/BeckerJustification.PDF

WELS Our Great Heritage states, "And yet many Lutherans still labor under the delusion that God does not forgive us unless we believe. Instead of seeing faith as nothing more than the spiritual hand with which we make the forgiveness of God our own, they see it as a reason why God forgives us. They believe that Christ has indeed provided forgiveness for all men, that God is willing to forgive them, but before he really forgives he first of all demands that we should be sorry for our sins and that we should have faith. Just have faith they say, and then God will forgive you. All the right words are there. The only thing wrong is that the words are in the wrong order. God does not forgive us IF we have faith. He has forgiven us long ago when he raised his Son from the dead." (p. 59)" WELS MLC President Mark Zarling, "Faith does nothing more than receive the forgiveness which is offered in the Gospel. It is not a condition we fulfill nor is it a cause of forgiveness. We are already forgiven. God's message of justification in Christ is there whether we believe it or not. Faith then receives the blessings." And, "Faith that accepts the good news of universal justification is the work of God the Holy Ghost." Page 7
http://www.wlsessays.net/files/ZarlingJustification.pdf

WELS AZ/CA DP Pastor Jon Buchholz
"Faith doesn’t bring anything into existence that doesn’t already exist. Faith doesn’t cause something to happen. Faith simply grasps— trusts—something that already is in place." Page 14
http://archive.wels.net/cgi-bin/site.pl?2617&collectionID=1161&contentID=76707&shortcutID=26388

August Pieper, third volume of the Quartalschrift , "But whoever molests the doctrine of justification stabs the gospel in the heart ...even if he ever so much emphasizes justification by faith."

(W)ELS sister Synod the CELC
Faith is like the empty hand of a beggar, which receives the gift that someone puts in it. If the beggar refuses to accept the money, which is given to him, he gets no blessings from it. Yet it is not the beggar who creates the gift. The gift is already there and it is reached out to him without his cooperation. In the same way it is with faith.
http://www.celc.info/home/180010197/180010197/docs/2008JustificationThemeOutreachMessage.pdf?sec_id=180010197


From Another Reader:

The other is from WELS's Meditations, March-May 2014, for Monday, 17 March 2014.  The howler is in the second column which reads:  "No matter what you did yesterday -- or failed to do -- and no matter what you will do tomorrow, God has forgiven you."